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Prince Leopold and Alice Liddell

What follows is one of my favourite titbits of history. Prince Leopold is my second favourite prince and I am very fond of Alice in Wonderland: 

Prince Leopold was the sickly youngest son of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. He positively repulsed his mother but she was overbearing and possessive of him. Alice Liddell was the inspiration for Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland. What’s marvellous is, the two were good friends!

Leopold, eventually managing to escape the clutches of his mother, and Alice, her father the Dean of Christ Church College, met at Oxford in 1872. Like princes before and after him, Leopold was drawn to the warm family life the Liddell’s shared and they quickly became a part of his inner circle.

Some have speculated that there was some level of romantic involvement between the pair; whilst others insist Leopold’s interests actually lay with Alice’s younger sister Edith. When Edith died in 1876, Leopold was a pallbearer at her funeral. Documents in the Royal Archives, such as the Queen’s correspondence regarding Leopold, mention no names, but there seems to be no doubt that Leopold was in love with someone, and a number of the pair’s Oxford acquaintances alluded to a link between the prince and one of the Liddell girls.

Some accused Alice’s ambitious mother of orchestrating the relationship. Lewis Carroll himself, whose own relationship with the Liddell’s had long since deteriorated, wrote a satirical piece called The Vision of Three T’s in which he characterised Mrs. Liddell as a ‘King-fisher’, suggesting that she was ‘angling for a royal son-in-law’. Whatever the truth, it is highly unlikely that Queen Victoria would have ever consented to her son marrying a commoner anyway. As Charlotte Zeepvat, Leopold’s biographer suggests, the ‘disappointed romance between Alice Liddell and Leopold has become a part of Alice [in Wonderland] mythology’, and indeed Leopold is often mentioned in Alice reboots, such as The Looking Glass Wars trilogy.

In the spring of 1873, any notions of marriage quashed, Leopold went to Balmoral with his mother and from then on saw the Liddells with increasing infrequency. Later Leopold married Princess Helena of Waldeck and Pyrmont and they named their daughter Alice, whilst Liddell, having married cricketer Reginald Hargreaves, called her second son Leopold. Leopold the prince was his godfather.

Hi, thanks for the question! (Image Via)

All of my content on traditional Chinese hairstyles can be found in my Hairstyles tag. For hairstyle tutorials in particular, I have a Hair Tutorial tag.

In addition, I have a “Hanfu Hair Accessories/Hairstyles” section on my replies Masterpost where you can find all my previous replies to hair accessories & hairstyles-related questions. Please check it out!

Hello!

To start off, some useful references on Chinese fashion history:  Chinese Clothing by Hua Mei  (PDF), China: History of Dress, Timeline of Chinese Fashion, Introduction to Hanfu, and Ming Dynasty fashion illustrations. I also have a Ming Dynasty tag.

Here are some very condensed notes on Yuan, Ming, and Qing fashions, using the references above:

- The general beauty standard during these three dynasties was to be tender, small-boned, and charming, with small feet. Foot-binding was practiced in all three dynasties, as it became popular during the Song Dynasty (right before the Yuan Dynasty).

Yuan Dynasty (1279 – 1368)

- The Yuan was ruled by Mongols, so the fashion of the time incorporated Mongol elements. For example, the right-over-left collar crossing was a result of Mongol influence (hanfu collars are crossed left-over-right).

-  Women sometimes wore two or more gowns at once, cut to show successive layers of cloth in harmonizing colors at the collars and sleeve-openings. Tight-fitting garments gave way to big, loose ones; and collars, sleeves, and skirts became straight. Lighter, more serene colors gained preference.

Ming Dynasty (1368 – 1644)

- When power again changed hands to the Han people, Ming rulers prohibited use of the previous dynasty’s Mongol attire.

- Women’s clothing consisted mainly of gowns, coats, capes, over-dresses with or without sleeves, and skirts. These styles imitated those of the Tang and Song Dynasties. The early and middle Ming saw a revival of Tang-style empire-line dresses worn with short jackets.

- Official court robes for women were decorated with phoenixes, the female yin to the male yang of the dragon.

Qing Dynasty (1644 – 1911)

- The Qing was ruled by Manchus, so the dress code heavily incorporated Manchu clothing. The mandarin long gown (changpao) and jacket (magua) style became the quintessential Qing fashion.

- Women wore skirts, with red ones for women of position. The styles evolved with time: some skirts were adorned with ribbons that floated in the air when one walked; some had little bells fastened under them: others had their lower edge embroidered with wavy designs.

- Near the dynasty’s end, embroidered silk trousers became fashionable with commoner women.

Hi, of course I’m happy to answer your question!

The forehead markings are called “huadian/花钿", and they are a purely ornamental type of accessory that was most popular during the Tang Dynasty. Huadian came in a variety of colors (red, green, yellow - but mostly red), shapes (flowers/petals, animals - birds/fish, etc.), and materials (paint, paper, gold, pearls, petals, fish bones, seashells, feathers, etc.). Nowadays it is usually painted on/a temporary tattoo. Fouryearsofshades has a write-up on huadian here. Below - historical huadian:

Huadian can be worn on the cheeks, as seen in the two left pictures in the 2nd row above - these are called mianye/面靥 or xiaoye/笑靥. They usually took the form of a dimple about one centimeter from each side of the lips, and came in a variety of shapes, including coins, peaches, birds, and flowers.

There is a legend about the origin of huadian, recounted by Hua Mei in the book Chinese Clothing

(pdf):

“The Huadian or forehead decoration was said to have originated in the South Dynasty, when the Shouyang Princess was taking a walk in the palace in early spring and a light breeze brought a plum blossom onto her forehead. The plum blossom for some reason could not be washed off or removed in any way. Fortunately, it looked beautiful on her, and all of a sudden became all the rage among the girls of the commoners. It is therefore called the “Shouyang makeup” or the “plum blossom makeup.” This makeup was popular among the women for a long time in the Tang and Song Dynasties.”

The flower/petal shapes typically represent the plum blossom. I’m not sure if the dot represents anything significant, besides being a common shape.

Below - actresses wearing huadian and mianye in film/tv:

Hope this helps! :) 

chief requirement to become a madrigal husband: chug a gallon of LOVE MY WIFE juice with every square meal

[ID: a series of drawings of various characters from encanto recreating the meme of will smith presenting his wife. each one is done in vibrant colours against a rectangular backdrop of solid colour, white hearts swarming enthusiastically over the characters’ heads. one: agustin, smiling widely, presents julieta, who swats at him as she leans away, one hand cupping her cheek and the edge of a bashful grin. the background is warm, bright yellow. two: felix, grinning, presents pepa, who throws her head back in laughter, one hand on her hip and the other over her heart, a rainbow arcing behind her. the background is vivid red. three: mariano, sappily smiling, presents dolores, who returns his adoring gaze, leaning closer to him with both hands clasped to her chest. the background is an intense blue. end ID.]

bonus: chief requirement to be a madrigal grandkid: want to be included in everything

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